FSU achieved stellar ratings by reviewing their highest performing professors first
Florida State University appeared as something of an outlier when it was reported earlier this month that zero professors flunked its new post-tenure review process while other institutions in the Sunshine State had at least some scholars who failed to pass muster.
At the University of Florida, for example, 34 professors didn’t meet expectations and five were dubbed unsatisfactory. The 39 scholars were among a total of 262 critiqued during the initial wave of reviews, spurred by a 2022 Florida law forcing professors to undergo post-tenure review.
Failure rates on other campuses included about 11 percent of those who went through the post-tenure review process at the University of Central Florida, 5 percent at Florida International University, 7 percent at the University of West Florida, and 6 percent at the University of North Florida, according to data compiled by Inside Higher Ed.
Except for Florida State University, which put zero professors on the poor performance list.
Are all FSU professors exemplary, or did the institution flout the law?
Neither, said Amy Farnum-Patronis, a Florida State University spokesperson, in an email to The College Fix.
“To meet the required 20 percent threshold, FSU selected faculty in their fifth year of tenure, and then rounded out the group with faculty volunteers. We understood that this would produce an atypically strong group of high performing faculty members,” Farnum-Patronis said.
“We believed that in reviewing our strongest faculty first, it would give us an opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of this system by rewarding our highest performers,” she said. “Once the random sampling process begins in 2025 and we have a more typical group of faculty, we expect the results of this process will be distributed across all the categories.”
She said the university is in support of “a rigorous post-tenure review system,” adding: “We only differed in the selection of our initial cohort.”
The law, signed into action in 2022, allowed the Florida Board of Governors to create a post-tenure review process, and the first round took place earlier this year.
Professors are evaluated on their research, teaching and service as well as “performance of academic responsibilities,” “non-compliance with state law,” and “substantiated student complaints,” among other factors, according to protocol approved by the board in March 2023.
The College Fix sent multiple requests for comment to members of the cabinet who are involved with staff and faculty advancement, but did not receive any response.
Post-tenure reviews will be required of professors every five years.
“The most significant deadweight cost at universities is typically unproductive tenured faculty,” DeSantis said in 2023.
As The College Fix previously reported, professors are rated by their deans according to a four-point scale. Deans will recommend to the provost “appropriate recognition and/or compensation” for professors who receive the rating “exceeds expectations” or “meets expectations.”
Professors graded as “does not meet expectations” will be placed on a performance-improvement plan, and those rated “unsatisfactory” will be fired, according to the regulations.
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